THE INDIVIDUAL ENTREPRENEUR

To identify the similarities and differences between male and female entrepreneurs.

To explain the differences between inventors and entrepreneurs.

ENTREPR E NEURIAL FEELINGS

There is no "true entrepreneurial profile"- entrepreneurs come from many educational
backgrounds, family situations, and work experiences. A potential entrepreneur may presently be
a nurse, secretary, assembly line worker, sales person, mechanic, home maker, manager or
engineer. A potential entrepreneur can be male or female and of any race or nationality.

Locus of Control

One concern people have when forming is whether they will be able to sustain the drive and
energy required to form something new and to manage the new enterprise and make it grow.
While research results are inconsistent, internal control seems to be a characteristic of
entrepreneurs.
Internal beliefs appear to differentiate entrepreneurs from the general public, but not from
managers. Managers and entrepreneurs both have an internality tendency.

Feelings about Independence and Need for Achievement.

The entrepreneur also has the need for independence, to do things in his or her own way and
time.
Another controversial characteristic is the entrepreneur’s need for achievement. McClelland
specified three attributes as characteristics of entrepreneurs:

Individual responsibility for solving problems and setting and achieving goals.

Moderate risk taking as a function of skill.

Knowledge of results of decision/task accomplishment. McClelland concluded that a high
need for achievement leads individuals to engage in entrepreneurial behavior, although
other studies have been inconsistent.

Risk Taking

Risk taking seems a part of the entrepreneurial process. However, it has not yet been empirically
established whether risk-taking is a distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurs.

ENTREPR E NEURIAL BACKGRO UND AND CHARACT E RIST ICS

Only a few background characteristics have differentiated the entrepreneur from the general
populace or managers.Childhood Family Environment The impact of birth order and social status has had conflicting
research results. There is strong evidence that entrepreneurs, both male and female, tend to have
self-employed or entrepreneurial fathers. Having a father who is self-employed provides a strong
inspiration in the example of independence and flexibility of self-employment. This feeling of
independence is often further enforced by an entrepreneurial mother. The overall parental relationship may be the most important aspect of the childhood environment in establishing the
desirability of entrepreneurial activity. Parents of entrepreneurs need to be supportive and
encourage independence, achievement, and responsibility. This supportive relationship appears to
be most important for females. Female entrepreneurs tend to grow up in middle- to upper-class
environments, where families are child-centered, and are similar to their fathers in personality.

KEY TERMS

Departure points

The activities occurring when the venture is started

Inventor

An individual who creates something new

Locus of control

An attribute indicating the sense of control that a person has over life